


nightswimming

by iimpavid



Series: unfinished duet [6]
Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Established Relationship, Gen, Peter Nureyev's Alias Catalog, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:20:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22286266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iimpavid/pseuds/iimpavid
Summary: Aster pays Hieron a visit.
Relationships: Peter Nureyev/Hieron, Peter Nureyev/Original Character
Series: unfinished duet [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1564903
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	nightswimming

**Author's Note:**

> Just another little slice of their lives together.

It wasn’t something Peter planned.

He was Aster, as usual, and Hieron had an infinity pool installed in their rooftop garden and wanted to celebrate the new luxury. There was no better reason for nightswimming. The meteor shower was an added bonus. The plasmatic dome shimmered violet against the endless expanse of space above them, streaked with falling detritus masquerading as stars. In the distance Jupiter loomed, an alluring red point. Pluto wasn’t visible from their present hemisphere but that was probably for the best. 

It  _ wasn’t  _ something he planned. 

Swimming under the stars was the sort of scenario anyone else might use for dramatic declarations but there was a complete lack of narrative structure in his relationship to Hieron that he cherished and wanted to preserve. 

But then the thought occurs to him and  _ then  _ he knows: he has to say it. 

_ He has to say it _ or it'll sit in his stomach until it burns a hole clean through him-- faster than the atmosphere burning up the garbage cascading down onto the planet like so many stars.

“Hieron, my name is Peter Nureyev," he says into the night and is amazed that he manages it so calmly. A non sequitur in what had been a mutually contented silence, breaking up the sounds of distant traffic and the lapping of the water. More amazing still: Hieron gave no indication that they could hear the way his heart was attempting to beat out of his chest.

But they could hear him. They turned slowly to look at him with those words hung between them-- their mouth, confused-- eyes, wide. " _ The _ Peter Nureyev?"

He winced. "The last time I checked, there's only the one."

They ponder his words. He could see them thinking and feel the weight of their gaze on him and it took every last ounce of his willpower to stay there, in the warm salt water, waiting for them to respond.

After an impossible stillness, Hieron slipped closer. Placed their hand gently against his right cheek to tilt his head, just enough to encourage him to make eye contact. And when he did, they told him, serious as death itself, with reflected light dancing across their face: "I'll take it to my grave, Peter."

His laugh was shocked. Or relieved. "You are unbelievable." 

"I meant it when I said I loved all of you, way back when. There's no name you could give me that would make me look away."


End file.
